Ravindra Jadeja snapped up his 11th Test five-for on Thursday to restrict Australia to 177 in the first innings of the opening game of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The Baggy Green have always been his favourite opponents, and the crafty left-arm spinner has taken most of his Test wickets against them (67).
This was, in fact, his fourth five-wicket haul against the Aussies.
Skipper Rohit Sharma took exactly 50 minutes and six overs to introduce Jadeja from the Pavilion (South) End of the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium. And right off the very first ball, the 34-year-old extracted considerable bite off the surface.
Right-handed Marnus Labuschagne may not have said it in as many words but his face showed that even he was impressed by the delivery which sharply angled away from him.
Rohit must have liked what he saw and Jadeja was held back after the first six balls, maybe for the track to wear down just a bit further. The wait was exactly 10 overs long.
And then resumed a little game of cat and mouse.
Sometimes, Steve Smith played for the arm ball and it whizzed past and then again Labuschagne was found caught giggling after getting a lifeline. Smith even held a thumbs up for Jadeja in the 21st over, which even had the latter cackling for joy.
“Some balls were turning. They (Smith and Labuschagne) were also searching for runs. You have to keep bowling the right areas even if they are searching for singles... The ball was coming out of the hand nicely.
The line and length was also nice. I was preferring the stump-to-stump line because of the low bounce. There could be a greater chance of getting someone bowled or LBW,” Jadeja said at the press conference.
Lunch spelt doom for Australia and the two openers, it lost in the first session to seamers Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj, seemed only like a prologue to what was to befall.
Bowled! Steve Smith of Australia is dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja as the batter is bluffed for a turn, with a straight delivery. | Photo Credit: Deepak KR / The Hindu
The footmarks were now gradually gaining prominence but the Smith-Labuschagne duo sauntered along to a 50-run partnership in 78 minutes and 123 balls. The near misses, though, became more frequent, and even the best of fielders, Virat Kohli, spilt one at slip off the bowling of Axar Patel.
Something was about to happen, and soon, as the crowd grew wilder, Jadeja struck gold.
From along a stump-to-stump line, he got one to deviate just a bit -- enough to lure Labuschagne into the drive that had an alert ‘keeper KS Bharat shaking off the debut jitters to effect an electric stumping.
The Saurashtra all-rounder didn’t have to wait long for his second. Off the very next delivery, Matt Renshaw got struck onto the pad by another delivery that turned.
The batter went upstairs but an orange on the giant screen meant the Umpire’s Call prevailed.
Just when Smith was looking to break the shackles, Jadeja intervened once more. This time, the Australia batter was deceived into playing for the turn when the ball pitched and straightened to breach Smith’s defence.
“To create a doubt in the mind of the batters, I was moving wide of the crease and sometimes bowling close to the stumps. I was mixing it all up. Even if a few balls turned, then opportunities could be created.
And that happened. When he (Smith) stepped out, he fell for the straighter ball. Natural variation came off the wicket. I was trying to use different angles also,” Jadeja elucidated.
Todd Murphy, who was handed his maiden Test cap earlier today by teammate Nathan Lyon, was deceived by a similar delivery, trapped plumb in front.
Jadeja’s figures of 5/47 are now the sixth-best ever at Jamtha, Nagpur.
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